Recipient

Sujit Sankar Datta
California Institute of Technology

Citation:

"For an outstanding doctoral dissertation on the physics of flow through porous materials."

Background:

Sujit Datta received his B.S. in physics and mathematics, and M.Sc. in physics, from the University of Pennsylvania in 2008. As an undergraduate, he was awarded the LeRoy Apker Award from the American Physical Society for his research on the electronic properties and patterning of nanomaterials with Professor Charlie Johnson. He received his Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University in 2014, where he studied flow through porous materials, the mechanics and transport properties of microcapsules, and the rheology of complex fluids under Professor David Weitz`s guidance. Sujit is currently a Postdoctoral Scholar at the California Institute of Technology, where he is applying his background in soft matter physics to problems in biology. Specifically, he studies how physical and chemical effects shape the gut microbiome, the collection of bacteria that reside in the human gut. Broadly, Sujit strives to do research that makes a meaningful, positive impact in society, by addressing problems in biotechnology, energy, and environmental science. His research interests are highly collaborative, and lie at the intersection between physics, chemistry, biology, materials science, and engineering.